19.12.11

How will I stay on my feet in these shoes?

I prepared a small treat for you; a Special Christmas Survival Questions Countdown!

From today until New Years Eve, I will post one question everyday, that will help you get through the days clustered with family gatherings, ugly presents, heavy partying and too full bellies. Ready? Steady… Go!

How do I stay on my feet in these shoes?

I figured I would start the survival countdown with the most important: the shoes. Maybe you wonder why I post this so early, but it can be quite challenging to walk in new shoes. And to avoid ruining your party because of uncomfortable footwear, I got a few tips for you.

If you never walked in heels before, please don’t go for the 13 cm ones. Yes, they look extremely gorgeous and make your butt appear tinietiny, not to mention your legs will go straight up to your boobs.

Still, even if they seem comfortable in the shop (or at home, in case you already purchased them, I know how this goes), the 5 minutes you spend on them will NOT be the same as standing and dancing for hours and, god forbid, walking longer distances than from the living room to the toilet.

Don’t fool yourself; you will not survive the night in those shoes. The evening will be eventually ruined because you can’t walk anymore! Just choose a nice pair with a heel height between 5 and 7 centimeters, even my shelf contains some like that, meaning they don’t have to be ugly because they have low heels… (And if everybody is drunk, nobody will look at them anyways.)

If you have some experience with heals, meaning you’ve been going out with them on your feet more than just once, you may choose higher ones for your party plans.

But beware, not all is safe yet. If your shoes are newly purchased I highly recommend, wearing them before. And this goes for ALL high-heelistas, whether you’re a bloody beginner or a catwalk-strutter.

You should wear your new babies from today on, everyday at least for an hour. Just walk around in the house in them, wear them while doing office work or while cleaning your room. This way, they will stretch a bit and hopefully have no more pressure points for the night of the nights. If they are from leather you can buy a product to expand the material, you just spray it on the shoes and wear them immediately, to stretch them without a hustle. If you live in Germany, you can buy this stuff for cheap in Deichmann, lucky you. For all the other countries, I bet you can find it in any shoe store, that has leather shoes. If your dream shoes are really poky, you can try to put in shoe expanders for a few days. Try them everyday to see if it helps, because it’s always better you know more than 5 minutes before you leave that you have to wear a different pair.

Also good helpers are those little gel cushions you can put in the front of your shoes, everybody should own those by now. At least that’s what I hope for your poor feet! In the meantime, gel cushions exist in a lot of shapes to put them in every little corner of your shoes. But, again, don’t try this shortly before you have to go out of the house and then realize it doesn’t work at all. Do it a few days before. I find today is a perfect shoe-try-on-day. Because you still have time left to a) practice, b) change your mind, and c)panic, recover and everything will be fine. And isn’t preparing and getting ready half of the fun??

A very important aspect on how to survive on your heels is the location!

If your party is in a chalet in the depth of a forest or buried in snow, please don’t wear Stillettos or Peep Toes or Strappy Sandals. You’re not doing yourself a favor there. Go for some stylish wedge boots, they exist in all colors, shapes and price ranges. They are warm and comfortable to walk on difficult grounds. I know they are tricky to combine with a new years dress, but if you party between deers and foxes, your choice of dress might be a little different, too.

If you are going to party at a club or a bar, I would avoid open toe shoes. It’s crowded, every body is dancing, you don’t want to do that to your toes, believe me. Also spilled drinks alert; forget about satin, velvet or furry materials, they will never look nice again after that night. And if you care about your shoes, you should think about that before. Best choice would be fake leather or any other synthetic materials, without little pearls or bows or whatnot, it will be gone forever, you know that.

If you are celebrating at a friends house it’s basically a jackpot, because you are inside, there are no long distances to walk (beware of the stairs, practice at home, I mean it) and mostly it’s not awfully crowded, meaning you can get out your nicest pair. If the party includes standing outside for a while because of fireworks or a similar event, you can pull over some leg warmers; stylish and your toes won’t fall of because of frost!

Keep away from walking long distances at all; your feet will be damaged before the evening starts, and I don’t even want to think about how your heels will look after that. Best case scenario would be a gentleman carrying you, but I can’t guarantee you will find one like that... So Ladies, solution number one is taking a taxi, solution number two, wearing comfortable boots. But that only works if you go to a friends place. Once you get to the location, you secretly slip into your heels, et voila! Same goes for walking home. The third solution, in case you can’t take a second pair of shoes, your bag is too small or whatever, are the foldable ballerinas. They sell these in a lot of shops now, buy one pair, they fit in everywhere, and if it must be, in the pocket of your coat. I only recommend these for walking home though, because your feet will probably be wet and cold after walking in them. Will be no fun continuing to party, I guess.

Finally if you just think a little bit ahead, you should be fine and in an emergency, you still can take them shoes of, but then your tights will be ruined. And don’t even get me started on that!